Over 4 glorious decades in service!

The Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation (MMCF) established by His late Highness Maharana Bhagwat Singh Mewar of Udaipur in 1969 has been facilitating the development of Udaipur as a heritage-city. In order to maintain its rich cultural customs, festivals like Ashwa Poojan occupy an important place in the calendar of regal festivals organized every year. This year, MMCF completes 45 years in service to the people of Udaipur. Education and outreach programmes, health care, heritage preservation and conservation, museum management and preservation of places of religious worship are some of the key activities of the MMCF.

The foundation has instituted annual international and national awards granted for services of a permanent value rendered to society. In addition, MMCF has set up a number of subsidiary trusts for religious and charitable purposes to give assistance to the underprivileged without distinction of caste, creed or religion.

Thu, 2 Oct

Taking Mewar's sculptures to the world

Udaipur's City Palace Museum shared priceless sculptures at the international exhibition at Pinacotheque de Paris, France. The exhibition is titled 'The Kama-Sutra: Spirituality and Erotism in Indian Art' and has brought together 350 works from several countries. The delicate feminine figure of a Sursundari, dating back to 1000-1100 CE, is one of the 8 priceless sculptures from Udaipur's City Palace Museum on display from October 2, 2014 to January 11, 2015.

The exhibition has been curated by the Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation's art consultant and curator, Dr. Alka Pande and Mr. Marc Restellini, Director of Pinacothèque de Paris. Dr. Pande had been instrumental in curating the Sculpture Gallery at the Zenana Mahal of Udaipur's City Palace Museum, titled 'Divine Gesture: The magnificence of Mewar spirituality'.

These priceless sculptures from Udaipur's Sculpture Gallery are a page of India's art history. They represent authentic traditions of temple sculptures depicting the feminine form, integrated with timeless Indian expressions of spirituality.

Besides these sculptural treasures from the MMCF, the exhibition displays the remarkable private collection of Beroze and Michel Sabatier which includes sculptures, paintings, miniatures, objects of daily life, organized according to the seven sections of the Kama-Sutra.

The exhibition will explain the erotic aesthetics specific to the Indian cultural life and to Hinduism as it developed over the last 1500 years. It will also attempt to understand why the Western world casts such a 'deformed look on that very unusual book' called the Kama-Sutra. Attributed to a Brahman author, who might have written it in the 4th century CE, the Kama-Sutra makes up one of the major texts of medieval Hinduism and is not a pornographic book, as it is often described in the Western world. It is divided into seven sections (adhikarana): society and social concepts, sexual union, as regards the spouse, extra-marital relationships, courtesans, and the arts of seduction.

The nodal agency for this international exhibition was National Museum, New Delhi appointed by Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The exhibition opened its gates for the world on 2nd October and will remain on till 11th January 2015.

Scenes in a panel, Acc. No. 2012.30.0119